


Gardenia

by shuuei



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: AU, Angst, Language of Flowers, M/M, One Shot, florist!wonwoo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2018-05-16
Packaged: 2019-05-07 17:42:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14676168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shuuei/pseuds/shuuei
Summary: Not everyone knows about the language of flowers, even though plant nerd Wonwoo surely does.





	Gardenia

The door chime bell rang announcing that someone was entering the store. Wonwoo put his best smile to welcome the stranger, a possible client. 

"Good morning! Can I help you?" He said, looking at that person, a tall guy, who seemed not to be listening. He was distracted staring at some purple flowers near the entrance. 

Wonwoo didn't say anything else, he didn't like to be too insistent and instead preferred to wait for the people to reach him first. Most of them were "just looking" and he didn't like to waste energy in them. 

He returned to the book he was reading behind the counter, explaining the care for some new succulents he planned to grow and then sell. 

He loved flowers, and he loved to read. He just wasn't good at normal jobs and in society in general. He liked it that way, his own kind of lonely way, surrounded by plants and those things that kept him safe in his comfort zone. That's why he took the job and soon became the store manager. He grew to like the place, he could place the plants however he wanted, and even though it wasn't his favorite thing, he started making flower bouquets, arranging a lot of different flowers into beautiful compositions. It was almost an art. But he preferred to plant the seeds and wait for them to grow and bloom and wither in their pots. Dead flowers weren't his thing. But he had to do it, since it made money. 

Apparently, the possible customer wanted a bouquet. Or at least, he was looking around the store were the bouquets were carefully placed to show their beautiful colors. 

 

He then looked up, and their eyes met. 

"Hello". 

"Hi, may I help you?" He asked again. 

"Yeah, I was looking to buy some flowers... for my boyfriend. It's our anniversary". 

"Alright. What kind of flowers were you looking for? Or what does he like?" Wonwoo walked towards the stranger, with his memorized speech to sell flowers. The guy didn't really seem to understand anything about flowers. He looked like he was lost. 

"I don't know. I know he likes white". 

"Well, a classic white roses bouquet would be a safe choice. But you could try dahlias or camellias for a bit more risky choice. Maybe that would tell him you actually thought about it" he suggested, everything while showing him some different white flower bouquets, passing from roses to daisies and chrysanthemums. 

"I like those ones" the guy said, pointing at an arrangement of camellias, big white ones, and some smaller yellow ones, freesias. Wonwoo reached to carefully take the bouquet off without touching the others, and letting the customer have a better look. He nodded, as if confirming his first impression of the flowers. He wanted those. 

"Alright then". Wonwoo smiled and walked towards the counter to wrap the bouquet in a pale lilac paper to protect it. 

The guy paid for the bouquet with his credit card. His name was Kim Mingyu. 

"Good luck, hope to see you again soon". 

"If he likes the flowers, I'll come again". 

Wonwoo smiled and the guy did too, before waving at him and leaving the store with the bouquet. Without even realizing it, Wonwoo found himself thinking about that stranger for the rest of the day. It was awkward, he didn't know anything about him aside from his name and that he had a boyfriend. And that was more than enough. 

  

One night, scrolling through facebook, Mingyu came to his mind. And, since he knew his name, he decided to look for him. It was a quick search, the stranger had his name on his profile, even if it just said "Gyu", so it was easy to find. Also, he had this cute profile pic of him holding a dog. Wonwoo didn't like dogs that much since he was kinda scared of them, but the picture was cute nonetheless. 

He stared at the "add friend" button for some time, but preferred to look through his pictures and posts before making a decision. What if he was a bully, boring, or had terrible political ideas? It was better to look first. He didn't have a lot of public stuff, but it didn't took a lot of time to find a picture with his boyfriend. Apparently took in a park or something, the tall guy was next to a slightly shorter male, who was pale and had big, sad eyes. They were holding hands. He was cute too. " _I love you_ ", the description read. 

 

He was tagged. 

"Choi Seungcheol". 

He sighed. They made such a cute couple. 

 

Even at risk of ending up looking like a creepy stalker, he decided to add Mingyu. If he asked, Wonwoo would have said that he just appeared in his suggestions and he just liked his dog. It wasn't true, but how would he know that. Maybe he wouldn't even remember Wonwoo. Why would he remember an employee from some flower store, anyways. 

He accepted the request. And Wonwoo got a new message. 

“ _flower boy!!_ ” 

Wonwoo smiled at the nickname. He had a nametag the day they met, but apparently, his customer didn't pay enough attention to remember it. At least, he remembered his face. 

He answered, and the conversation went on casual, natural, as if they had met for years. Mingyu said his boyfriend loved the flowers, and that they had a great day. Wonwoo said he was happy to know that. 

Then they started talking about other stuff. It wasn't easy for Wonwoo to start or keep conversations alive, he wasn't good at any social stuff, not even at social media, since he didn't understand it that much, didn't like to upload pictures, talk about personal stuff or look at what other people were doing. But he was interested in getting to know more about Mingyu. He didn't know why, he was just... different. So he did his best to keep the conversation going.

 

That night Wonwoo learnt that Mingyu was actually a year younger than him, he was studying fashion and textile design, and had a job at some fashion magazine. Way more interesting than him. 

Mingyu asked if he had a girlfriend or a boyfriend, and Wonwoo said no. It had been a long time since the last he was in a relationship. He wasn't good at relationships either. 

Wonwoo asked if he liked cats. It was an important question. Mingyu said yes, but added that he liked dogs more. Wonwoo said he kinda looked like a dog. He said he knew that already, and then said that Wonwoo looked a bit like a cat. 

He had never heard that before, so he asked why. 

" _i_ _don’t know, you just look like one. like small and scared_ " 

Wonwoo laughed. Like, in real life, he laughed because of that message. He wasn't wrong though, for someone who didn't know him at all. 

" _but_ _i'm_ _tall_ " 

They kept joking and talking for a while, until Wonwoo fell asleep, and had some weird dreams about gardenias and yellow tulips and Mingyu being surrounded by them. He overslept and showed up late for work, something kind of unusual coming from him. 

But it became more usual, since he started talking with Mingyu until way past midnight. He really liked to talk with him, he was funny and made him laugh and forget about life for a while. Until he remembered that Mingyu was actually out of reach, since he still had a boyfriend. It was still nice to have him as a friend, he just needed to keep his feelings from growing in a different direction. 

  

  

"Hey there, flower boy!" A cheerful voice he hadn't heard in a while resonated around the store. Wonwoo was at his "office", a small room full of books about plants and some other stuff, and where he used to hide to read and play video games when he was bored. He immediately got up from his chair and appeared behind the counter, a wide smile on his lips when he saw the visitor. 

"Hey there, puppy face", he said, with a slightly ironic tone, clearly joking, or so he thought, "are you looking for flowers again?" Wonwoo asked, getting ready to show him the new bouquets he had been working on, and maybe to convince him to get his boyfriend something better than dead flowers, something like plants. 

"Actually, no. This time I brought something for you", Mingyu said, brightly, and laughed at how confused and lost Wonwoo seemed to be when he heard that. He had been hiding something behind his back, and before Wonwoo had time to ask about it, he placed a big pot onto the counter. The pot was way too big for the small plant inside, but it seemed happy anyways, since it was starting to bloom. 

 

Wonwoo frowned a bit, tilting his head. Why would he give flowers to a florist, anyways? 

 

It was a gardenia, like the ones in his dreams that first night they actually talked.  

 

Mingyu stared at him expectantly for some time, but when the silence made him realize Wonwoo didn't understand anything about it, he decided to take another step. 

"Happy birthday, flower boy!" He smiled again, his fangs showing, giving Wonwoo reasons to think he was an actual puppy. Maybe it was because of that pretty smile, but it took him some moments to process and understand the situation.  

He brought him flowers. No, better. He brought him a whole plant, alive and blooming. For his birthday. He probably saw it on facebook, that wasn't weird, but the fact that he had taken the time to get him a plant, that was a lot.  

"I don't know what to say. You didn't have to... Thank you", he said, getting shy suddenly because of the situation. Finally, he smiled softly, without looking up.  

"You're welcome. I searched for plants with pretty flowers and found these, I wanted one with flowers but the seller told me it was better this way", he explained, excited, probably more than Wonwoo, but wasn't he this excited about everything? He was like a kid.  

"Yeah. It's better when the flowers haven't opened yet, you can see them blooming and it's just nice to watch them for a bit of a longer time".  

"I see. So... What are the plans for today?" Mingyu asked, curious, the plants were interesting but just not his thing since he didn't understand a lot about it, and his attention switched topics quickly.  

"Plans?"  

"It's your birthday, you're not staying here, let's do something" he insisted, pulling Wonwoo by the sleeve of his shirt, trying to convince him, since he was more of a homebody, didn't like crowds, clubs or people in general, Mingyu knew.  

But Wonwoo couldn't say no to that smile.  

  

The black haired boy complained a bit about the sudden change of plans for that day since he wasn't dressed to go out, with his black jeans and white shirt, not at all extravagant, while Mingyu was wearing ripped jeans and a nice, colorful slim fit shirt. He looked like a model or something, something expensive and _unreachable_.  

He left the black apron and texted a friend, Soonyoung, to come and watch the store the rest of the day. It was just a few hours until closing time, and it wasn't the first time he did it, so Wonwoo trusted him.  

After putting the gardenia plant on his desk at the office, he closed the door and gave the keys to Soonyoung, telling him to take care of the plants and to shut up, since he made some jokes about him and Mingyu going on a date. To Wonwoo's relief, Mingyu was waiting for him outside and couldn't hear the conversation.  

 

Soonyoung stayed and Wonwoo left the store with Mingyu walking by his side, talking about the places he wanted to go, not just that day but in the future too. He seemed to like making plans and thought a lot about the future. It was sort of fun to watch.  

They went to a bar, after Wonwoo insisted or begged for, at least, not going to a club. He didn't like to dance, not while being surrounded by strangers. But he did like to drink, so they bought some beers and then some whiskey shots and they drank a little too fast. Even though Wonwoo liked to drink, he wasn't that good at it, and he got drunk quicker than Mingyu, who was more used to alcohol.  

Both of them were kind of drunk, talking about life and other nonsense stuff, laughing at random things, singing, and just being stupid. At some point, Mingyu convinced Wonwoo to go to another place, and he took him to a weird club where everyone was dancing to some alternative electronic music. None of them knew how to dance to it, but they were too drunk to care, so they danced anyway, and drank some more. 

They had fun. It was actually one of the best birthdays Wonwoo have had, he was just sad Soonyoung didn’t join them later, he was way better than him at dancing and he would have loved it. Or he would have been mad because he always tried to convince Wonwoo to go to a club and Wonwoo always said no. Wonwoo was drunk, but he could imagine Soonyoung scolding him already. And making jokes about Mingyu and him, again.  

 

Later that night, they were tired and the fun alcohol effects were starting to fade, so they decided to go back home, or well, Mingyu did, since Wonwoo was too drunk to have an actual opinion. He was laughing at everything, just like Mingyu when he was sober. The sun was rising when they got out of the club, Wonwoo holding onto Mingyu’s shoulder for better balance. They were talking nonsense, and suddenly, a drunk Wonwoo spoke out loud.  

“You know what? I really like you”, he said, smiling fondly, and then added “I’ve never liked anyone this way before. Maybe... maybe just cats”. He laughed, but Mingyu didn’t laugh after him this time, even if he couldn’t notice it.  

“I know you do”, he answered, with a small, kind smile.  

  

That was the last thing Wonwoo remembered about that brief conversation. 

  

He woke up with a terrible headache, even moving a bit made his head spin. He tried to open his eyes but couldn’t, the light didn’t let him. He turned around a bit in bed trying to figure out what had happened the last night. Or earlier that day. He had some weird memories... about them dancing and... kissing? In his memories, they were close. So close he could feel his warmth, his heavy breathing, that lovely smile, only for him for a brief moment. His lips, his gorgeously tanned skin, those strong hands... He opened his eyes quickly, feeling some heat increasing somewhere. Then, Wonwoo noticed two things.  

 

The first one, that wasn’t his bed. The second one, he had an erection. Well, fuck.  

 

He got up to sat on the bed, but the sudden movement just made his headache worse. He cursed in a whisper and fell on bed again, hiding under the covers, that smelled like  _him_. That didn’t help. His blurry memories got a bit clearer as the minutes passed, and the embarrassment and realization that all he saw was no more than a dream was like a cold shower to him. Fuck. He felt so stupid.  

“Then... what the fuck happened?” He asked to himself, in a low voice, he wasn’t sure who else was there, wherever it was, so it was better not to put himself at risk. 

As if answering his question, right after asking it, someone knocked on the door. He didn’t answer, hoping to be left alone for another while, but the person opened the door anyways.  

“Good morning”, a quiet whisper, as if the voice was afraid to wake him up.  

Wonwoo, too tired and with the same horrible headache, just groaned in response.  

“I brought you breakfast... But it’s 2pm already”, he laughed, and Wonwoo opened his eyes in surprise, taking off the blankets so he could see who was there. Because that wasn’t Mingyu’s laugh. He would have recognized it.  

And indeed, it wasn’t Mingyu. He frowned a bit, that goddamn headache wouldn’t let him think clearly.  

“How are you feeling? Hungry?” The stranger asked with a soft smile.  

And then Wonwoo realized. He had seen him before. Just in pictures. Because he was Mingyu’s boyfriend.  

 

The guy must have seen the panic in Wonwoo’s expression, because he laughed softly and placed the coffee mug and the cookies he brought on the night stand next to Wonwoo, to then sit by his side.  

“I’m Seungcheol. Nice to meet you”.  

Wonwoo doubted a little, but then answered.  

“Nice to meet you too. I’m Wonwoo”.  

“Ah, I know. Mingyu told me you were friends. Did you have fun last night?” He asked kindly, and took one of the cookies to eat it, while Wonwoo stared at him in horror. “C’mon, drink your coffee, it’ll make you feel better”.  

Wonwoo finally surrendered to the stranger’s kindness and got up carefully to hold the coffee mug and drink. He felt terrible. Not just because he physically felt terrible and the hangover was killing him, but because he was in a complete strange house, with a guy he didn’t know and didn’t want to know, getting an erection because of his boyfriend, his friend, to whom he confessed last night, and he couldn’t remember any single thing from the last events aside from that. It was fucked up. 

He was too out of place and didn’t like the feeling, he wanted to go home or disappear from earth or…  

 

“Wait, 2pm? Fuck”, he suddenly said, looking for his phone, but couldn’t find it in his pockets.  

“Ah”, Seungcheol said, as if remembering something. He got up from the bed and out of the room, leaving Wonwoo alone.  

Wonwoo used that time to look at his surroundings. It was their room. Minimalist but nicely decorated, it was almost obvious Mingyu had good taste. Not just because of the room.  

Mingyu’s boyfriend came back and gave him his phone.  

“I’m sorry, I thought it was better to leave it charging”, he apologized.  

“Ah, don’t worry. Thanks”, Wonwoo answered awkwardly, he wasn’t good with people. He slid his fingers through the screen to unlock it once it was on, and the phone started vibrating and sounding with lots of notifications. Once again, fuck.  

He had dozens of missed calls and even more messages. All from Soonyoung.  

 

“ _r u having fun? or having dick?_ _i_ _hope both”_  

_“where the fuck are you”_  

_“hey dumbass_ _dont_ _forget u have a job just_ _bc_ _of some dick”_  

_“r u alive????”_  

_“_ _wonwoo_ _for fucks sake answer me”_  

_“_ _i_ _went to the store and_ _urent_ _there???”_  

_“wtf”_  

 

He scrolled by the rest of the messages, they were ridiculous but Soonyoung had a point. He wasn’t at work, where he should be. In fact, he should have been there since 9 in the morning. Fuck.  

He typed quickly.  

_“_ _i_ _overslept and fucked it up. sorry. would u open the store for me?? ha_ _ngover won’t let me go._ _i’ll_ _make it up for it later”_  

He sent the message and let his head fall on the pillow again.   

_“_ _i’m_ _here already, idiot._   _i’ve_ _been here for hours._ _ur_ _job is boring_ _af_ _”._  

Thanks god. What a good best friend. For the first time since he woke up, he smiled.  

 

But then he remembered. Seungcheol was still sitting in bed with him, distracted with his phone, but still there. He stared at him discreetly for a bit. He was handsome. His eyes were big and bright and he had long eyelashes. His dark hair enhanced the pale skin, and even though it was messy, he looked good. Mingyu was really lucky. They both were. Suddenly, the guy turned to see him and Wonwoo immediately looked away.  

“You’re finally awake, aren’t you? Wanna take a shower? I’ll prepare the bathroom. I’ll lend you some of my clothes, Mingyu’s will be too big for you. Finish your breakfast! I’ll be back in a moment”, he declaimed, getting up and petting Wonwoo’s hair before disappearing through the door again. And once again, Wonwoo was left alone, feeling dumber and dumber every second.  

Why the fuck was he so nice to him? He was a complete stranger, he liked his boyfriend, he was invading his house and his bed and his life, and still, he made him breakfast and was taking care of him as if he deserved it. Fuck it.  _Fuck it._  

And where the fuck was Mingyu, by the way? He had no idea. Maybe there but just ignoring him. After all, Wonwoo wasn’t sure of what had happened last night, or what did he do last night. And he was actually scared to know. Would Seungcheol be this nice to him if he knew? Probably not.  

He did as he was told and finished the breakfast Mingyu’s boyfriend brought him. Right in time, Seungcheol came back and forced him to get up from bed. He took him to the bathroom and soon Wonwoo was alone again.  

 

Wonwoo showered in silence, but his mind was a complete mess. Not only about last night but about that morning, or afternoon, or whatever. This guy was a complete ray of sunshine. Was Mingyu trying to cheat on him? He felt guilty just by thinking about it. If so, Mingyu didn’t deserve this guy. He didn’t deserve any of this, either. He had to talk with Mingyu, about the night before that he probably remembered better, and about the flowers. The flowers he gave Wonwoo for his birthday.  

He came out of the shower and dressed with the clothes Seungcheol gave him so he could put his to the washer. It was weird but he looked nice in them, Seungcheol had a nice fashion sense. Or maybe they were Mingyu’s idea.  

As soon as he opened the bathroom door the pale guy appeared in front of him with the same kind smile.  

“You look great”, he said, not even a bit of sarcasm in his voice. He took Wonwoo’s clothes to the washer. They sat in the living room and Seungcheol put a movie in the tv, sitting on the sofa. Wonwoo was too tired and still felt like shit, and apparently, it was so obvious that Seungcheol noticed, and made him lay onto the couch and rest his head on his lap. That would have made Wonwoo uncomfortable, but for some reason, he stayed there, calmed. Seungcheol didn’t make him uncomfortable, even if they were strangers. He wasn’t used to being treated like that, Seungcheol was just too kind and caring and made Wonwoo forget a bit of how shitty he felt. Wonwoo closed his eyes and sighed, letting Seungcheol pet his hair, relaxed.  

 

Until he heard the door opening.  

 

He opened his eyes and heard a familiar voice.  

“Hey, babe, I’m home”.  

 

Wonwoo looked up discreetly and caught a smile in Seungcheol’s lips. It was different from the smiles he had seen that day. It was brighter. Wonwoo expected him to get up and forget about his existence, but Seungcheol stayed still, his hand still stroking Wonwoo’s hair.  

Mingyu finally appeared in the room. He went directly to Seungcheol, but froze in his place when he saw Wonwoo on his lap. Wonwoo noticed and got up immediately and kind of awkwardly, getting shy and looking away. Seungcheol smiled.  

“Hi, baby. How was your day?” He asked, as if nothing –or no one- was out of place.  

“It was okay, just tiring, as always. Deadlines are over us but I think we’ll do just fine. But I don’t want to think about it now”, Mingyu explained, more naturally, and he finally got closer to place a soft kiss on Seungcheol’s forehead.  

“Seems like it. But you’re not the only one tired, apparently”, Seungcheol smiled and glanced at Wonwoo, “Wanna stay over for dinner? Or do you prefer to go home?” He asked kindly, and Wonwoo could see that the offer wasn’t just courtesy, it was real and honest.  

 

He was still too embarrassed, though.  

 

“I-I think I should go home now. But I don’t know how to get there from here... Or where is here”, he admitted, quietly. All of his relax had disappeared since Mingyu entered the room. They were friends, yes, but he was ashamed about his confession last night, and he didn’t feel ready to coexist with both of them, the guy he liked and his boyfriend, who was too sweet and nice. He needed to go home and be alone with his own thoughts. He was scared he fucked it up.  

“Ah, don’t worry about it. Min, take your friend home, he’s tired and he’s been away for a while. I’m sure his boyfriend misses him”, he said with a smile, and Wonwoo almost choked on air, his face getting red, “Hey, it was a joke, no need to be shy about it”, Seungcheol added, laughing slightly at Wonwoo’s reaction, and Mingyu laughed too.  

“I don’t have a boyfriend, the one spamming my phone is my dumb best friend”, he explained with a soft, kind of forced smile.  

Finally, Wonwoo took his things and was more than ready to disappear from that apartment and that perfect couple life. He thanked Seungcheol for his kindness and bowed awkwardly at him goodbye, he smiled brightly and said he hoped to see him again. Wonwoo followed Mingyu outside and got into the car with him, but couldn’t even look at him and stayed quiet most of the trip home. It wasn’t actually far from his house, and when he noticed they were almost there, he decided to speak.  

“I’m... sorry about whatever happened yesterday. I can act like an idiot when I’m drunk”, he started apologizing, not really sure about what, since he couldn’t remember. But he felt the urge to apologize anyways.  

“Don’t worry, everything’s cool. We all get dumb when we’re drunk”, Mingyu smiled, and Wonwoo couldn’t help but sight in relief. At least he wasn’t mad at him.  

The car parked in front of Wonwoo’s house.  

 

“But I have to ask you something. About the plant”, Wonwoo finally said. 

“What’s with it? You don’t like it?” He asked seriously, and turned to face Wonwoo.  

“I do, it’s just... I don’t think I can accept it’s meaning. Your boyfriend... he’s really nice”.  

  

Mingyu frowned. 

And suddenly, Wonwoo understood.  

  

“Oh my god. You don’t have any idea, do you?” He asked in sudden panic.  

“About what?” Mingyu asked, more confused than before.  

Wonwoo opened the car door, ready to run and hide even if it was under some car. But he didn’t. He had to be mature, like he used to be, before he met Mingyu.  

“Ah, it’s nothing. I’m sorry, it’s this damn hangover”, he apologized, and forced a smile, “I had fun last night, thank you. See you again soon, hm?”  

“Alright. See you soon, flower boy”.  

Mingyu smiled and Wonwoo did too, closing the car’s door and walking fast to his house. Mingyu waited for him to enter before driving back home.  

  

  

All alone, Wonwoo proceeded to ignore his phone buzzing with Soonyoung’s messages, and went directly to the garden, watching the gardenia in it’s pot, that Soonyoung brought home. He smiled and caressed the leaves carefully.  

“He didn’t know...”, he whispered quietly.  

  

 

It was all in his head.  

All this time, it was all in his head.  

 

Rain killed the buds before they got the chance to open.  

Mingyu killed the hopes his mind created.  

But he was going to take care of the plant anyways.  

 

Even if he got hurt.  

 

He wanted to be close.   

**Author's Note:**

> alright. first of all, thanks for taking the time to read this mess! now to the point: Wonwoo thought that Mingyu was kinda suggesting he liked him back because of the flowers. gardenia’s meaning is “secret love”, and he thought that it was his way to say he wanted to be with him and Seungcheol. but Mingyu just choose gardenias because they were pretty. on the other hand, Wonwoo had a dream about yellow tulips, that represent one sided love. 
> 
> i think that’s all on the flower stuff. sorry about the shitty ending, i don’t know how it turned out. i didn’t want to focus on the sad stuff, wonwoo still loves flowers and mingyu. 
> 
> anyways, sorry about that rant. 
> 
> comments would be really really appreciated. 
> 
> thanks for reading!♡


End file.
